Wells College Memorial Plaque

In 1918 a committee was formed to commission a plaque in remembrance of the centennial of Lewis Henry Morgan. Dr. Kerr Macmillan, President of Wells College, was elected chairman, and Mr. E.H. Gohl of Auburn was chosen as the artist for the project. Other prominent members of the board included: E. R. Foreman, President of the Rochester Historical Society; Dr. Rush Rhees, President of the University of Rochester; Alvin H. Dewey, President of the Lewis Henry Morgan Chapter of the New York State Archeological Association, Rochester; and Arthur C. Parker, the State Archeologist and great-nephew of Ely and Caroline Parker. The committee rushed to raise funds, but the plaque was finished late, and was presented the year after Morgan’s centennial, in 1919.

Wells College was chosen “because Morgan was born at Aurora and received his early education in the village academy. In his later life, Morgan who for years had been a friend of higher education for women, became a trustee of Wells College, serving from 1868 [the founding of the college] to the time of his death in 1881” (New York State Archeological Association, The Morgan Centennial Celebration at Wells College, 1919).

The plaque is indicative of Native American textile work, and in some instances attempts to replicate the wampum belts of the Haudenosaunee. The top of the plaque holds the traditional Haudenosaunee symbol for their confederation, and the rest of the plaque lists Morgan’s life work and accolades. The borders of the plaque include intricate woodworkings meant to mimic the fine beadwork associated with Haudenosaunee artisans. At the center of the plaque there is an image of two people holding hands, which is meant to signify Morgan’s adoption by the Tonawanda Seneca into the Hawk clan in 1846, when he received the name, Ta-ya-da-o-wuh-kuh, which is translated “one lying across.”